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Choosing Your Word of The Year... The 2019 Edition!

Hello 2019

It’s me again! After a few days rest I am so happy to say I’m excited for the clean, fresh slate of this new year.

One thing I’ve noticed is how easily you can start to fatigue of the concept of New Years resolutions, new year, new you etc etc etc. I get it! Early January is awash with pressure to be completely organised, improved and ready… and I agree, it can get a bit much. Which is why I like to keep it simple when it comes to planning. No complete body overhauls or life changes here, just gradual, steady evolution towards the person you want to be. And no pressure to have all the answers right now!

A tool that I find really useful in this process is the WOTY – choosing a single word of the year to to help define and guide the year ahead. This is something I’ve done for the last few years and you guyyysss.. It works! I’ve talked about it before (see the 2017 and 2018 editions) and was excited to see last year that the concept resonated with many of you too. So, in case you’re sitting down this week to work on your short and long-term goals or vision for the year, we’ve put together the 2019 edition!

WHY CHOOSE A WORD OF THE YEAR?

If you’re new to the concept of choosing a word of the year, here’s a few reasons why it could be useful for you.

It helps to give you focus The main reason I find having a guiding word for the year useful is that it helps to focus all your thinking for the whole year, particularly if you ever feel a bit scattered about where you are at. Hands up right here!

It allows for flexibility Ever feel like your goals change a lot over time, or you fail to meet a goal and then feel like it all goes out the window? It’s totally happened to me before. But by having a single word, you can adjust your goals over time, so long as they are in line with the focus word you choose at the beginning of the year.

It’s easy to remember If you’re like me, you might have a whole bunch of goals in various areas of your life, and admittedly it can be hard to remember them, particularly as the months wear on. By choosing a single word, you can keep your broad goals at the front of your mind.

It can unify your goals Generally, our goals are broad and cover all the different elements of our life, making it hard sometimes to use them as a criterion for making decisions. But by analysing your goals and then choosing a word that resonates across all of them, I find it makes it easier to define your approach for the year, and guide any decisions you need to make.

It makes it easier to review your achievements If you use a single word to define and guide your year, it’s easy at the end of the year to review your year in a broad way, by asking yourself: ‘Did this year reflect (insert your defining word here)?’.

LOOKING BACK AT MY GUIDING WORD FOR 2018

My word from 2018 was EVOLVE. When I chose my word for 2018 I was only a few months pregnant, and somewhat struggling with the concept of becoming a mother and all the change that would bring. Instead of focusing on the potential struggles and scary side of becoming a parent, I chose the word ‘evolve’ and in many ways that really helped to ground me throughout the year – I kept coming back to reminding myself that evolution was something that was a good thing and not something to be terrified about. It was so necessary to evolve my business as I adapted to motherhood, and evolve my relationships (with Ben and our families) as we got used to these crazy, new roles. To be honest, looking back I think I should probably add another word to my year: SURVIVE. Because just surviving having a new baby whilst running a business is a major achievement! At least it feels like that to me. So yes, things evolved and for that I am very grateful, and we survived…. And for that I think I deserve a glass of wine (or 6). But back to ‘evolve’ – I think it definitely helped me, both in direct and indirect ways.

CHOOSE YOUR WORD FOR 2019

So are you ready? It’s TIME! Time to decide on your own word. You might know straight away what you want your year’s word to be, it might be something on the tip of your tongue. Or, you might need a little help to develop some ideas, which is totally fine too. The beauty of the exercise is that there’s no pressure to know straight away. In fact, we give you permission to take your timmmmeeeee on this.

If you need a little help (and even if you don’t), use our printable below. You can download it here.

How to fill out the WOTY Sheet

Step 1. Do a little brainstorm of words that come to your brain about the year to come, we’ve listed a whole bunch as some ideas but do add your own too.

Step 2. Then, if you want to, list some thoughts under the different areas on the sheet. We did these to help you but don’t feel free to completely fill them up straight away, and leave any you don’t know.

Step 3. Finally, choose one word that you think unifies your thoughts across all your goals and write it down at the bottom. You might find that your chosen word relates to your strongest goals and not to all of them, and that’s ok, but the broader it is the more useful it will be.

My Guiding Word for 2019 (And why)

Grow

Grow The Business I see some HUGE changes in store for the coming year and this website and business. Although I feel happy that I was able to survive 2018, in all honesty it was a somewhat slow year, something that comes from slowing down to have a baby! So in 2019 I’m hoping to speed up the growth of my business and go down a new, more challenging path. More on that soon!

Plant the seeds Last year was all about keeping my head above water, with zero time to dedicate to new ideas. For which I have so many! So this year is about planting those seeds and letting them grow.

Grow My Ideas I think we all need a little motivation sometimes to do our ideas. In fact, I think we all need a little daily reminder – DO YOUR IDEAS! This means not waiting for them to be perfectly executed before you launch, and not getting too bogged down in the detail to ever execute anything. This year it’s all about experimenting more, and doing my ideas!

Separate (and grow) My Personal Brand There is huge value in a personal brand, but that the same time it relies heavily on you. Therefore I am really excited to be building something new that brings in my personal eye, style and aesthetic, but also grows and separates my personal brand.

Consider Green Living 2018 really highlighted for me an element of climate despair, and so I think in 2019 I’m going to focus more on sustainability in all elements of what I do, including right here within the business!